Middle East Roundup: November 19, 2015

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Palestinian terrorist kills 2 Israelis during afternoon prayers in Tel Aviv

(JNS.org) A Palestinian terrorist killed two Israeli Jews in a stabbing attack during afternoon prayers (mincha) on Thursday in Tel Aviv, Israeli media reported. The Shin Bet identified the attacker as a 36-year-old Palestinian from the village of Dura, near Hebron.

The prayer service was taking place in a Judaica store at the Panarama shopping center in south Tel Aviv. Eyewitness Shimon Vaknin told the Jerusalem Post that a man covered in blood fell on a number of worshippers shortly after prayers began, and that the 15-20 worshippers pushed the terrorist outside the store and barricaded the door while he shouted in Arabic and tried to re-enter.

The terrorist later attempted to flee the scene, but was arrested and taken in for questioning. The two victims mark the 15th and 16th Israeli Jews killed in the current wave of Palestinian terrorism, which has been dubbed the “stabbing intifada.”

Report: Netanyahu asks Obama to let Jonathan Pollard move to Israel

(JNS.org) After spending three decades in a U.S. federal prison, Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard will be set free on Friday. Israel Hayom reported Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked U.S. President Barack Obama to let Pollard move to Israel immediately after his release. Netanyahu made the personal request during his meeting with Obama at the White House last week in Washington, DC.

Under the reported parole terms, Pollard, 61, will not be allowed to leave the U.S. for the next five years. Seeking to have that restriction lifted, Netanyahu reportedly promised Obama that Israel would make “guarantees” regarding Pollard’s post-release behavior and that a special Israeli team would be established to enforce any terms set by the Americans.

Obama did not say yes or no to Netanyahu’s request, leaving Israeli officials with the impression that he was considering the matter. As things stand, Pollard will need to report regularly to a parole officer. It has been reported that Pollard will live in New York City and that he has secured a job there. It remains unclear whether Pollard will receive any financial aid or other form of assistance from the Israeli government following his release.

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Authorities uncover cell of Israeli Arabs planning to join Islamic State

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A group of six Israeli Arabs from the central town of Jaljulia were indicted Wednesday for planning to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State terror group.

The cell was uncovered in a joint effort by the Shin Bet security agency and the Israel Police. The investigation that led to the arrests and indictments began in October after Nadal Salah, a 23-year-old Israel Arab man from Jaljulia, flew a paraglider into Syria to join Islamic State. The initial probe into that incident led to the arrest of two brothers from Jaljulia suspected of helping Salah enter Syria—26-year-old Jihad Hagala and 22-year-old Ahab Hagala.

The Hagala brothers were known Islamic State supporters. Jihad Hagala even spent half a year in Syria in 2013 fighting for Islamic State. Upon his return to Israel, Hagala was sentenced to prison and was released in November 2014.

During questioning, the Hagala brothers admitted to helping Salah enter Syria. The investigation also turned up the names of four other Jaljulia residents who had taken part in the planning: Anas Hagala, 19, Mahmad Udah, 28, Mahmad Zakgait, 22, and Adnan Inash, 21.

All six suspects were charged at the Lod District Court on Wednesday for contacting an enemy agent, conspiring to commit a crime, attempting to travel to an enemy state, and assisting travel to an enemy state.
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Frozen Iranian funds belong to terror victims, Israeli NGO warns U.S. banks

(JNS.org) An Israeli legal rights NGO warned 11 American bank branches that they remain liable to compensate families of victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism from frozen Iranian bank accounts, despite the lifting of sanctions on Iran following the July’s nuclear deal.

The Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center sent letters warning the U.S. branches of the foreign banks that the $100-150 billion in frozen oil revenue should continue to be held for terror victims in spite of the Obama administration’s plans to lift sanctions on the accounts.

“You are hereby warned that all accounts maintained by your financial institution at any of its branches in the name of Iran, the Central Bank of Iran, the Naftiran Intertrade Company, the National Iranian Oil Company, the National Iranian Tanker Company or any other agency or instrumentality of Iran are restrained and subject to a lien in favor of my clients under United States law,” the letters state.

Though Iran negotiated with America to lift sanctions on the bank accounts, Iran’s ability to recoup the funds was blocked in October by a “Citation to Discover Assets” that was filed in the federal district court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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Official: ‘trying to get Texas companies interested’ in oil and gas in Israel

(JNS.org) Momentum is building for increased partnership between Israel and oil and gas companies in Texas, said an official from America’s Lone Star State.

“We’re trying to get Texas companies interested in the oil and gas opportunities here in Israel— not just the major E&P (exploration and production) companies, but all the supporting companies, all the services it takes to run an oil and gas industry,” Clare Freeman, president and CEO of the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce, told the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday at the Universal Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition in Tel Aviv.

Freeman explained that because gas rig support services are in short supply in Israel, there could be more opportunities to partner in areas such as shipping broken parts to Texas for repair.

Houston-based Noble Energy already partners with the Israeli company Delek Group in the operation of Israel’s offshore gas fields, Tamar and Leviathan. Freeman said Noble is the ideal type of company that Israel should look to partner with because many other large companies already have relationships with Arab countries.

Freeman’s comments come after Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz recently visited Houston, the so-called “energy capital of the world,” for a series of meetings pertaining to the energy and water industries. Michal Niddam-Wachsman, head of the Israeli government’s Houston-based Economic Mission in the U.S. Southern Region, told JNS.org earlier this month that Israel is looking for “several other Nobles” to partner with in the oil and gas space, and that Steinitz’s visit “means that we as a government want to give motivation to the local companies to invest in Israel.”

The recent resignation of Israeli Economy Minister Aryeh Deri, meanwhile, paved the way for an offshore gas deal that resolves a pricing dispute in which former Israeli antitrust commissioner David Gilo had threatened to designate the Delek-Noble partnership as a monopoly.

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Netanyahu and Putin to meet in Paris to discuss Syrian conflict

(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone Wednesday to express condolences over the Russian plane crash in the Sinai that killed 224 people. Islamic State claimed that it shot down the aircraft.

Netanyahu and Putin discussed the situation in Syria and agreed to meet in 10 days at the upcoming climate conference in Paris to further discuss the Syrian civil war. Meanwhile, Russia has been working on improving their intelligence-gathering in the Middle East, Russian news agencies reported. Russia has started bombing Islamic State oil infrastructure in Syria, Russian General Staff official Andrei Kartapolov said.
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